Some cosmological consequences of the five-dimensional Projective Unified Field Theory
The classical observational cosmological tests (Hubble diagram, count of sources, etc.) are considered for a homogeneous and isotropic model of the Universe in the framework of the five-dimensional Projective Unified Field Theory in which gravitation is described by both space-time curvature and some hypothetical scalar field (sigma-field). It is shown that the presence of the sigma-field can essentially affect conclusions obtained from the cosmological tests. The surface brightness-redshift relation can be used as a critical test for sigma-field effects. It seems reasonable to say that the available experimental data testify that the sigma-field decreases with time. It is concluded that the spatial curvature is positive or negative depending on whether the mass density is larger or smaller than some critical parameter which is smaller than the critical density and can even take negative values. It is shown that the increase in the number of the observational cosmological parameters as compared to the standard Friedmann model can essentially facilitate coordination of the existing observational data.